[birdergirl]

"The Northern Spotted Owl was listed as an Endangered Species in Washington State by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 1988, and was listed as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. This is one of three Spotted Owl subspecies and the only one to occur in the Pacific Northwest. Its distribution is from extreme southwestern British Columbia south through the Cascade Range and coastal mountains to northwestern California. Spotted Owls have very large home ranges (thousands of acres) and use mature and old coniferous forest habitat for nesting, roosting and foraging; loss of this habitat due to timber harvest was the primary reason for its listing. Protections on federal (Northwest Forest Plan) and non-federal lands (Forest Practices Rules) have reduced the amount of habitat loss, although authorized habitat loss continues under these and other initiatives such as federal habitat conservation plans. The closely related Barred Owl expanded its range across North America and arrived in the Pacific Northwest about 45 years ago. The range of the Barred Owl has continued to expand, and it now is found throughout the range of the Northern Spotted Owl. The Barred Owl has life history traits that enable it to be a more effective competitor of resources than the Spotted Owl, and this competitive advantage has contributed substantially to the continuing population decline of the Spotted Owl in Washington. Population monitoring at three demography study areas in Washington indicate annual rates of change between -4.7 and -7.1%. A variety of management actions are underway to enhance Spotted Owl conservation in Washington and elsewhere within its range. In particular, a landscape-scale experiment to remove Barred Owls from Spotted Owl territories at four study areas will begin in autumn of 2015; one of the study areas is in the eastern Cascade Range in Washington. The decline of Spotted Owls has not subsided in Washington and the population is becoming critically imperiled. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating whether to change the species’ status to Endangered under the Endangered Species Act. We recommend that the status remain as Endangered in Washington State." - J. Buchanan

Please read the full interesting document here published by the WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife this Sept 2015 by Joseph Buchanan:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01752/

The periodic status reviews are designed to include an update of the species status report to determine whether the status of the species warrants its current listing status or deserves reclassification. The agency notifies the general public and specific parties who have expressed their interest to the Department of the periodic status review at least one year prior to the five-year period so that they may submit new scientific data to be included in the review. The agency notifies the public of its recommendation at least 30 days prior to presenting the findings to the Fish and Wildlife Commission. In addition, if the agency determines that new information suggests that the classification of a species should be changed from its present state, the agency prepares documents to determine the environmental consequences of adopting the recommendations pursuant to requirements of the State Environmental Policy Act.

This document is the Draft Periodic Status Review for the Northern Spotted Owl. It was reviewed by species experts and will be available for a 90-day public comment period.

All comments received will be considered during the preparation of the final periodic status review. The Department intends to present the results of this periodic status review to the Fish and Wildlife Commission at an upcoming meeting.

Submit written comments on this report by e-mail by 7 December 2015 to:
T&Epubliccom@dfw.wa.gov

Or by mail to:
Listing and Recovery Section Manager, Wildlife Program
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, Washington 98501-1091 USA

This report should be cited as:
Buchanan, J. B. 2015. Draft periodic status review for the Northern Spotted Owl in Washington. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia,Washington. 13 + iv pp.

Let's help protect them so that we can all share in the experience of seeing one and not lose them forever like we virtually have done in BC.

Sincerely,
Melissa